Should the Judicial branch get involved in the rules of the Senate? According to the current slate at our highest court, apparently not.
The Supreme Court on Monday declined to review whether the Senate’s filibuster rule violates the Constitution, denying without comment an appeal filed by a public interest group and four House Democrats.
Lower courts had dismissed the lawsuit and said Common Cause and the lawmakers couldn’t sue over Senate rules, reasoning in part that the Senate has constitutional authority to set its own procedures.
The lawsuit was brought in 2012 in response to immigration and election procedures bills that died in the Senate when they didn’t receive the 60 votes needed to overcome filibusters. Both measures passed the House in 2010 and had majority support in the Senate.
The main items of contention in this suit appeared to come from the DREAM Act and the Disclose Act, dealing with revealing more donors in campaigns. Both failed to achieve the required 60 votes. But that’s not really the core of the issue here. The court was asked, essentially, whether the Senate does or does not have the right to determine their own rules for how laws are passed and business is conducted on the floor. A fairly good reference for determining the answer to this one can be found in a familiar document.
Section 5. Each House shall be the judge of the elections, returns and qualifications of its own members, and a majority of each shall constitute a quorum to do business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the attendance of absent members, in such manner, and under such penalties as each House may provide.
Each House may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two thirds, expel a member.
Four House Democrats signed on for this case. I hate to turn this into such a short post, but this is one case where I would prefer to leave it up to our readers. Have they read the document I quoted above? Do they know what it means or where that section came from? And, in closing, how did this case make it all the way to the top?
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